Big Education Ape: Louisiana Education Legislative Update

Friday, May 29, 2015

Louisiana Education Legislative Update | deutsch29 #flipbese

Louisiana Education Legislative Update | deutsch29:

Louisiana Education Legislative Update

During the Louisiana legislative session, the Louisiana Federation of Teachers (LFT) issues a weekly legislative digest of education-related legislation. (Archived digests can be found here.)

These digests are excellent resources for following education legislation throughout the legislative session.

In this post, I would like to offer some highlights from the May 29, 2015 LFT legislative digest and add a bit to it. (The complete document can be read here: LFT Legis Digest 05-29-15.)

I added links for each of the bills mentioned In the LFT excerpt below. The links include comprehensive information on each bill. (Note that this search engine allows one to track any bill nationwide: LegiScan Search Engine)

House Approves $3.7 Billion MFP

The House of Representatives approved public education’s $3.7 billion Minimum Foundation Program formula without opposition, but questions linger about its fate in upcoming Senate hearings.

The House version of the formula in HCR 18 by Rep. Steve Carter (R-Baton Rouge) includes a scaled-back $36 million inflation factor. That is just half of what it would take to provide a 2.75% increase, which was considered a customary practice prior to the Jindal administration. In six of the seven previous Jindal-era budgets, per-pupil funding in the MFP remained flat.

LFT President Steve Monaghan was one of those who argued for a full 2.75% increase in the MFP this year. But after HCR 18 was approved by the House Education Committee during the week, Monaghan said that it would be difficult to get more in a year that began with lawmakers facing a $1.6 billion deficit.

In total, the MFP includes about $85 million over last year’s formula. Nearly half of that is due to an increase in the number of students expected in public schools next year, and $8 million is in the MFP to bump spending on students with special needs and for those in dual enrollment college courses and career education programs.

If the MFP survives the session intact, it will increase the base per-pupil funding from $3,961 to $4,051. Lawmakers can either accept or reject the formula, but may not change it.

The governor’s original budget proposal did not include an increase in the MFP. As budget hearings begin in the Senate, there are big questions about
Louisiana Education Legislative Update | deutsch29: